On Thursday, August 20, 2026, CNN, citing three sources, was the first to report that the US Navy is considering renaming the fourth Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier, CVN-81, which was originally to be named Doris Miller in honor of the first African American to receive the Navy Cross, the service’s second-highest military decoration.
Doris Miller was portrayed by Elven Havard in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! and by Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 2001 film Pearl Harbor. Photo: US Navy
Interestingly, the name Doris Miller for the future CVN-81 was approved in January 2020, during Donald Trump’s first term as President of the United States.
Two of the three sources said that during the ongoing internal discussions on the matter, the name under consideration is… Donald Trump. Naming an aircraft carrier after a sitting president would be unprecedented, although, as we know, the current administration has pushed through funding for nuclear-powered guided-missile battleships under the BBG(X) program as the Trump class, with the lead ship to be named Defiant.
According to one source, the US Navy is instead considering naming another warship after Doris Miller and has recommended him for the Medal of Honor, although any final decision on the award would require approval by Congress and the President.
Thomas Bledsoe, Miller’s great-nephew, told CNN that the family had not been informed either about the possible name change or the renewed effort to have his great-uncle awarded the Medal of Honor. Bledsoe said the family had been seeking the Medal of Honor for generations and described the renewed recommendation as an honor. In a subsequent CNN interview, he said that his great-grandmother Henrietta had worked continuously toward that goal and that the effort had been passed down through successive generations.
Doris Miller’s family members unveiled a plaque commemorating the future aircraft carrier during a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in January 2020. The decision was announced by then-Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas B. Modly.
“Dorie Miller was the son of a sharecropper,” Modly said during the ceremony. “And, he was an American Sailor — so designated by the uniform that he wore — the same uniform all Sailors wore, and still wear, regardless of race, ethnic background, or political persuasion.”
Meanwhile, efforts to rename the future Doris Miller have reportedly been under way since the beginning of this year. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao and his office are also examining the possibility of updating the Navy’s official ship-naming guidelines and defining who ships may be named after, including presidents, according to two sources.
Amid the discussions over the ship’s name, the US Navy has stopped referring to it internally as USS Doris Miller and is instead using only its hull number, CVN-81, according to one source. A recent White House shipbuilding directive also referred to the carrier exclusively as CVN-81, directing the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy to develop a plan to replace the GA-EMS EMALS (Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System) electromagnetic catapults with a steam-hydraulic system.
The US Navy has little time left to announce a new name for the aircraft carrier, as its keel-laying ceremony is expected to take place by the end of this year. On May 8 this year, US defense outlet USNI News learned that delivery of the fourth Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier would be delayed by two years, from 2032 to February 2034. Given that the ship was ordered on January 31, 2019, 15 years will have elapsed by the time it is delivered.
All Gerald R. Ford-class ships being built under the CVN 21 Future Carrier Programme have experienced delays at Newport News Shipbuilding. Construction of the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the second carrier of the class, has been repeatedly delayed. Finally, in January this year, the ship began its first sea trials. Delivery is scheduled for March 2027, forcing the US Navy to extend the service life of USS Nimitz (CVN-68) by 10 months. It is also worth noting that in 2020 the US Navy abandoned the previously planned two-phase delivery approach in favor of a single-phase delivery, extending the process to 16 years from the date of the order.
Future plans also include USS William J. Clinton (CVN-82) and USS George W. Bush (CVN-83), for which no preliminary construction schedules have yet been established. Four additional unnamed aircraft carriers are also planned, bringing the total to 10 ships that will replace all Nimitz-class carriers.
It is worth adding that renaming a ship would not be unprecedented for the current administration. On June 27, 2025, one of the 20 planned John Lewis-class replenishment oilers being built under the TAO(X) program was renamed. The second ship of the class already in service, T-AO-206, which had entered service as USNS Harvey Milk in honor of the LGBT rights activist, was renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson in honor of the chief watertender who was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Rendering of the third ship, USS Enterprise (CVN-80), which is already under construction / Graphic: Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII; part of Northrop Grumman)
Doris Miller
Doris “Dorie” Miller (1919–1943) served aboard the Colorado-class battleship USS West Virginia (BB-48) from January 2, 1940. From February 16, 1941, he served as a Mess Attendant 2nd Class. Interestingly, he was also the ship’s heavyweight boxing champion.
During the Imperial Japanese Navy air attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Miller carried wounded sailors to safety, including helping evacuate the ship’s commanding officer, Capt. Mervyn Bennion. He then took over one of the anti-aircraft positions armed with 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, despite having received no training in operating this type of weapon. As he later recalled, he fired for about 15 minutes until the ammunition was exhausted, shooting down at least one dive bomber. He then returned to assisting wounded sailors, making use of his considerable physical strength. The ship, after being hit by nine torpedoes, two 800 kg aerial bombs and five 60 kg incendiary bombs, eventually sank. Miller evacuated with the surviving crew.
On December 15 of the same year, he was assigned to the Portland-class heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35). On May 27, 1942, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz awarded Miller the Navy Cross during a ceremony aboard the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) at Pearl Harbor. He subsequently took part in a nationwide campaign promoting the purchase of war bonds. Miller volunteered to return to active sea duty on May 15, 1943, and was assigned to the Casablanca-class escort carrier USS Liscome Bay (CVE-56). That same year, his image appeared on a US Navy recruiting poster.
During the Gilbert Islands campaign on November 24, 1943, USS Liscome Bay was struck in an ammunition magazine by a torpedo fired by the Japanese Kaidai-class submarine I-175. The ship sank, and 644 of its 916 officers and sailors were killed. Doris Miller was among the dead. He was 24 years old.
